Fatigueless response of spider draglines in cyclic torsion facilitated by reversible molecular deformation

TL;DR

Spider draglines can withstand extreme cyclic torsion without fatigue, thanks to reversible molecular deformation, maintaining structural integrity and Raman spectral features even under near-breaking twist conditions.

Contribution

This study reveals the fatigueless torsional response of spider draglines facilitated by reversible molecular deformation, a novel insight into silk's mechanical resilience.

Findings

Raman bands shift linearly with twist and are reversible.

Draglines maintain structural integrity after thousands of torsion cycles.

Surface profile remains unchanged after cyclic torsion.

Abstract

We demonstrate that spider draglines exhibit a fatigueless response in extreme cyclic torsion up to its breaking limit. The well defined Raman bands at $1095$ and $1245 cm^{-1}$ shifted linearly towards lower wavenumbers versus increasing twist in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. Under thousands of continuous loading cycles of twist strain approaching its breaking limit, all the Raman bands were preserved and the characteristic Raman peak shifts were found to be reversible. Besides, nanoscale surface profile of the worked silk appeared as good as the pristine silk. This unique fatigueless twist response of draglines, facilitated by reversible deformation of protein molecules, could find applications in durable miniatured devices.